Latest Deftones

Lamb of God has premiered a new song entitled "Embers." The song, which is taken from the band's new album VII: Sturm Und Drang (out on July 24 via Epic Records,) features Chino Moreno of metal legends Deftones.

Deftones have released a new music video for "Romantic Dreams" off last year's Koi No Yokan, which was named Revolver's Album of the Year. The clip was directed by skater and filmmaker Brett Novak and features fellow skater Jason Park.

Several members of the rock community responded over the weekend to the passing of Chi Cheng, the Deftones bassist who died Saturday at age 42. Cheng had been involved in a car accident in November 2008, which left him in a coma for some time. Although he started showing signs of improvement, he was never able to make a complete recovery.

Washington, D.C.-based prog metallers Periphery will support the Deftones on theor North American tour in March. Periphery are on the road now in support of their 2012 album, Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal, which was voted the No. 3 album of the year by Guitar World.

From an impending apocalypse to the promise of a new Van Halen album with David Lee Roth, the bar was set high for 2012. Everyone from the Mayans to Nostradamus prophesied 2012 as being the end of the world, but who could have predicted Green Day's epic trilogy of new albums, or Rush churning out their heaviest record this side of 2012, or Joe Walsh's first solo effort in two decades?

Deftones have announced a month-long run of U.S. tour dates in support of their latest album, Koi No Yokan. Dates for the trek, which includes makeup dates for New York and Boston shows cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, can be found below.

Usually, this is where I bitch about the horrible state of the music industry and what slim pickings there are for true guitar hounds … but this year was actually jolly good fun. A lot of veterans stepped up to the plate (Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Edward Van Halen), and so did a few new, impressive hot shots (Periphery, Gary Clark Jr., HAARP Machine).